Wow, I missed out on this one when it came out. I have not read all the posts (11 pages at the moment) but the first few pages were full of an attitude that just drives me nuts. The whole "companies owe it to their stock holders to maximize profit" argument is a shining example of exactly what is wrong with this country. Not only is it the corporate equivalent to "I was just following orders," a phrase which removed all personal responsibility for a generation of tyrants and their lackeys, but it shows just how screwed up our priorities have become. The individual has been replaced by the corporation (and profit) in America's political and economic calculations.
Now I am not saying that profit is bad, only that profit made from the destruction of the American economy, environment and citizenry is incredibly short sighted. Our economy became great because workers made a wage large enough to buy American products. With the rise of international corporations and the quest for profit above all else, the American economy is being mined for profits by closing American production, laying off workers and importing goods made over-seas. Eventually, American's will no longer have any money to buy these goods anymore, then what will we do? This is not a problem for international corporations, when Americans can no longer afford to buy foreign goods and the American economy is in the dumper, they will set up cheap manufacturing plants here to make goods to sell to the Chinese (or who ever else has all the money at that point).
Personally, I don't see why anyone would be willing participate in this system. It’s stealing from yourself for the sake of a relatively small profit (assuming that you are actually in the stock market). Where are you going to live with all the money you make in the stock market when the American economy is in the dumper, when you cant drink the water or breathe the air? WHo do you think is going to employ you? What are you going to do when the middle class disappears and the newly poor majority actually get pissed and politically involved (or worse, abandon politics for more direct action).
What we need is the realization that maximizing profits alone is not a company’s sole duty. They have a duty to their workers and to the communities they work in. We need to stop thinking that companies have the same rights as people. People are far more important than companies. For example, why on god's green earth do we actually give tax breaks to companies who move American jobs and production overseas? Under what possible logic is taking away American jobs and loosing the tax base a good idea for anyone but international corporations? Why are we actually paying oil companies millions tax dollars when they are making record profits? Do you actually think that they need your money to get along? Yeah gads! We need to start using a little enlightened self-interest here and make sure that we are voting and acting in our own interest, not acting as the ignorant lackeys of someone else’s profits.
Is profit the highest good? If you think they are, you have some pretty screwed up priorities....or you work for Exxon or the like.
Rant over.
